Cardeno C.'s Blog, page 69

LOOK! I wrote a Book! by Felice Stevens

An article recently came out exalting the fact that it is now easier to publish than ever. That the hardest thing about self publishing is, well the decision to self publish.
In the words of my favorite historical romance characters: RUBBISH.

The self published market is more crowded than ever before; every day Amazon is flooded with new books by authors hoping to have the "next big thing" and sell millions of copies of books. But recently we've seen a spate of announcements from Amazon about the proper way to format a book and if there are too many spelling errors, your book will be bounced until you correct them.

These (slight) attempts to stem the flow of unedited or poorly edited books are indicative of the bigger problems of the state of publishing today.

In my opinion, too many people think its easy to publish a book. And it is. That's the problem. People write the brilliant words and think they don't need editing, maybe because their best friend read it and told them it was wonderful. After uploading, they wait for the book to go live and voila! A published book. Easy Peasy.

Except it's not. Real writing takes time; time to take classes in the craft of writing, time to join a critique group and really listen to what others have to say. Time to write, rewrite, tear it all up and re-write it again. Listening to criticism of your work is one of the hardest things ever, but as writers we need to know why info dumping is bad and why we need to show, not tell.

 Both William Faulkner and Stephen King said "Kill your darlings." As writers, we have a hard time acknowledging that the scene we thought most brilliant, needs to be cut. Take it from someone who knows. the scene needs to be cut. I have started, cut and scrapped tens of thousands of words. 

So I disagree with the article. Publishing is easy. But do we want it to be? What standards are we striving for when click farms are set up to give Kindle Unlimited books invalid page reads, when books are haphazardly slapped together and pushed out?

I for one, don't want publishing to be easy. I want it to be hard. Hard as hell and just as scary Because writing is easy....but good writing is hard.

And speaking of publishing..I had a release this week. Learning to Love released. I hope you pick it up and enjoy it!
Amazon: http://amzn.to/21nKufG
AllRomance: http://bit.ly/1Oazjj0
iBooks: http://apple.co/W9zx2j
B&N: http://bit.ly/WJ6ssZ
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1W8jvoM

Is longer really better? by Riley Hart

I've seen a lot of discussion about book length recently. Most of it seems to steer toward, "longer, longer, longer!" I feel like the odd man out because though I don't read a lot of short stories or novellas, I don't typically like really long books. If it's paranormal or fantasy or something that's one thing. We have world-building there so you need more words. Even in romantic suspense, because there's a case to solve, a bad guy to catch, or someone trying to kill the MC, but for contemporary romance, I struggle with books that are too long. Those are the books I tend to DNF because I get bored, the plot sags. I can love a character, but I also can't just read about anything and everything they do if it doesn't move the plot forward. Books that feel too long to me start to make me lose interest (that doesn't mean they ARE too long because hey, this is just my preference).

Also, that's not to say I feel every book should be around the same word count because all books are different, but as a general rule, I don't read really long contemporary romance.

When I'm writing, my "hot spot" is usually around 70k. That works for me. That doesn't mean it works for everyone.

And sometimes, I do want a good novella. It's nice to read something in one sitting. In fact, I have a novella or two planned in the near future.

What are your thoughts on length? Bigger the better?

Ask Andrew - Keeping Track of Series

Dear Andrew,

My question this week stems from the sheer number of books I read.  As an author each of you have your own development for storylines, sex scenes, series, and character traits.  I am an avid fan of your work so I realize how quickly you fulfill us greedy readers with new stories.

What are your methods for keeping track of these stories?  Are there some that keep you pushing yourself until they're done because they are screaming so loudly or others that you end up squashing for long periods because something's missing?

Dragontieggs
Dear Dragontieggs
I am blessed because my editor has created a character spreadsheet for each of my stories and I can refer to those when I'm working on a new story in a series.  Its amazingly helpful for me.  But I will tell you that when I'm working on a new story in a series, I review the previous stories so I can make sure that I have them all in my head while I'm writing.   It helps make the writing process go more smoothly for me and it also helps me avoid stupid continuity mistakes.  
To answer your next questions, of course there are always stories that are easier to write.  Some, when you're lucky as hell, they practically write themselves and as a writer you live for those times.  They are few and far between.  So when it happens you get down on your knees and thank the writing gods.  On the flip side, there are stories that are more difficult to write.  Those take more patience, time on the phone with plotty buddies, and chocolate.  Lots of chocolate.
Hugs and LoveAndrew


Ask Andrew is your chance to ask questions of a gay romance author.  The questions can be about the writing process in general, writing sex scenes, gay men, sex, characters in romance, characters having sex... okay you probably get the picture.    I promise to answer your questions as frankly and with as much humor as I possibly can.

So if you have a question, please send it to andrewgreybooks@comcast.net.  This is different from my usual email so your questions don't get lost.  I will answer one question a week.

Please remember this is meant to be all in fun.  (I was going to say good, clean fun, but who wants that.)    So send me your questions and let's see what mischief we can get into.

Visit Andrew on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/andrewgreybooks  and you can join Andrew's fan group All The Way With Andrew Grey.

Follow him on Twitter:  @andrewgreybooks

Visit Andrew's web site:  www,andrewgreybooks.com

overhead at BA and Julia's house

hey y'all!

If you follow any of us on social media, you probably know how BA and I are a) married, and b) have long, bizarre discussions about the strange and unusual.

Here are a few of the standouts from the past week.

"Your butthurt is not my responsibility"

"Get the basset hound out of the laundry basket, please. I need to rewash those sheets"

In chorus with Kiernan Kelly "Hot Pockets" which is the result of a bad Cards Against Humanity clue at RT

"Yes, but if she's Canadian does she still have to suck it up and be mean?" We tease Sean Michael about being super polite and Canadian.

Right. You get the bear shifter and I'll take the demon." Are we starting a new shared universe between the four of us? Keep tuning in and see for yourself.

We love y'all so. We promise to get our butts back on track next week.

XXOO

Julia (and BA, Sean and Kiernan)

Got a topic you'd like us to tackle? Let us know!

You can find us on Twitter at @seanmichael09, @juliatalbot, @batortuga and @KiernanKelly

Sean’s website is http://www.seanmichaelwrites.com

Julia’s is http://www.juliatalbot.com BA’s is http://www.batortuga.com

Kiernan's is www.KiernanKelly.com

Facebook:

Sean -- https://www.facebook.com/SeanMichaelW...

Julia -- https://www.facebook.com/juliatalbota...

BA -- https://www.facebook.com/batortuga

Kiernan -- https://www.facebook.com/kiernan.kelly

Ask CC (05.02.16) by Cardeno C.

Happy Monday. I have a link on my website where readers can ask me questions and I'll provide answers in a future blog post. Today is an answer post.

1.  Would like to purchase the Home Collection Box Set, but can't seem to find it on Amazon.  Any advice?
CC: Although the Home box set is not available at Amazon, you can buy it at other retailers, including All Romance ebooks. You can find links to all the retailers here.2.  Why did you re-release the audio version of Strong Enough with a new narrator?
CC: The first audio version was of the first edition of the book through the publisher. All the first editions are no longer available so I released 2nd editions of the ebooks and I also released audio books of all four Family books with Ezekiel Robison narrating them. I'm absolutely thrilled with Ezekiel's work on the books and I think he hit it out of the park with Strong Enough. Here's a sample - let me know what you think:3.  Hello.. I really wanted to know whether there is a sequel to Johnnie...I cant wait for it.
I'm so glad you enjoyed Johnnie! I will be writing more books in the Siphon collection but I'm very behind on my to-be-written list so it'll be a while yet. :(4.  Please, when will there be new Spanish translations?I am committed to having my books translated into Spanish and other language so they are available to as many readers as possible. The translation process is difficult and time-consuming but I know Y.M. Garcia is working hard on the next Spanish translation.5.  Finally, these aren't reader questions but I was asked by Jessie Potts from the Happily Ever Blog to share my favorite paranormal book and paranormal hero/crush. You can see my answer here. And I answered similar questions from Kate Hill for her werewolf week event here. 

If you have any questions you'd like me to answer in a future blog post, ask me here. Have a terrific week!
CCwww.cardenoc.com

The joys and frustrations of writing about children, by Renae Kaye

I asked my Facebook friends for some topics to blog about to promo my new book, Safe in His Heart (Safe #2) and Susan Lynn suggested this (above topic) for me.  First I looked at it and said, “No – there’s nothing to write about this,” but I’ve thought about it longer, and you know what?  I think there are things to say.


I have to admit that a small part of me liking M/M Romance is that it “takes out the uterus.”  Now, let me explain this comment.  I read M/F Romance for years, and one of the things that I got annoyed at is that having children always seemed to be a part of the equation.  No romance story seemed to be complete without having the requisite boy/girl set of twins at the end.  As if to say that a love story is not “true” without producing twin babies exactly nine months after the wedding.
I often think to myself on whether the love comes first, or the discussion of children in these types of books.  Even when you have a strong female lead in a romance, who often says she doesn’t want kids because she prefers her career, the author will have to discuss the possibility of the husband staying home and raising the children.  It’s as if the uterus in the relationship is more important than the heart.
My own experience in life tells me that a child is not necessary to complete a relationship.  My best friend told me when she was sixteen that she didn’t want children.  Over twenty years later, she has never, ever wavered from this path.  She’s been with her partner since she was eighteen, and they are more than happy not to have children.
There seems to be a plethora of M/M Romance involving babies and children lately.  I think it is a combination of factors.  For a start there are so many M/M Romance books out there now – the genre has exploded – so there is more of everything.  We’re also seeing how writers are reflecting in our fiction the changes of our laws.  Many more countries have same-sex marriage laws, and with it often come adoption and surrogacy laws.  Society is evolving and the laws are changing to keep up.
Here in Australia, we are actually in a spot of bother when it comes to gay men becoming fathers.  Sean Kennedy and I have often discussed it over coffee.  We have no same-sex marriage laws for a start (although we recognise same-sex defacto relationships).  Adoption is all but out of the question, especially newborn adoption.  There are no laws banning same-sex couples from adopting, but it seems as if the adoption agencies will choose straight couples over gay couples.  Unlike America where there seems to be a lot of parents signing away their rights to their children, who are then placed in foster care that hopefully leads to adoption, Australian fostering and adoption is a lot harder and the parental rights held in the highest regard.  Adopting newborns or even older children who were born in Australia is rare.
But to put another hurdle in the way of gay couples who wish to have children, commercial surrogacy is against the law in Australia.  Our laws are very strict.  Most people wanting some sort of surrogacy arrangement went overseas to Indonesia, India and Thailand.  In the past 18 months there were a few cases of Australian couples doing some terrible things in relation to surrogacy (like abandoning their children in the foreign country if they are born with a disability), and as a result of outrage when the public found out, these countries have closed their commercial operations.
So you would think that I would actually never write about children in my M/M Romance novels, right?  With gay men unable to adopt or obtain surrogacy permission in Australia, and the fact I’m a little derisive of trite endings?
Wrong.
For one simple fact.  Children occur in life.  All of my books have contained children or pregnancy in them.  Brothers and sisters, or friends of the MC getting pregnant and having children is pretty usual in a gay man’s life.  And Renae Kaye loves writing her realistic stories with flaws and all.

I love to write about children because they are often innocent.  They love their uncle for being him, not because he’s gay or not gay, strong or not strong, handsome or not.  Being an uncle or aunt you often get the best of both worlds because you get to have fun with the kids, but hand them back to their parents for the tricky part.  Children can also provide comic relief in a story that is getting a little heavy.
The frustration about writing children into a book is that not everyone wants to read about the hum-drum, normal, tiring part of parenting.  And by being a parent myself, I know that 95% of parenting can be the boring bits.  It’s like looking in a photo album – you have photos of birthday parties, Christmas, that zoo trip, and the day that Little Penelope put blue cake in her hair.  You don’t open up the album and find pictures that are labelled, “4th of May, Little Johnnie. Had cornflakes for breakfast and only spilled some of them.  Had to change his red shirt for a blue one.”
In The Blinding Light (The Tav #1), Jake and Patrick have the opportunity to adopt a child at the end of the story.  But you never see the ins and outs of parenting, because it occurs at the end.  In the second book in this series, You Are the Reason (The Tav #2), the story moves onto Dave and Lee.  There are a couple of scenes where you see a peek at Jake and Patrick’s new life, but never the full picture. 
It was my own short-sighted self who didn’t realise that Paul would get his own book that created a need to heavily involve children in Safe in His Heart (Safe #2).  In Safe #1, I created Paul, and he was in love with a married man who had children.  So when I attempted to write Paul and Andrew’s story, I was constrained by the relationship I had already created.  Andrew had two small children who he loved and it would break his heart to leave.
And bound by that, I wrote Safe #2.  It was a joy to write about Andrew’s love for his children.  Just because a man is gay, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t long for children.  Andrew’s children are the most important thing in his life.  But it also meant the story needed to get into the nitty-gritty of child care arrangements.  No matter how much I wanted it to, I just couldn’t have Andrew constantly leaving his children with a conveniently available babysitter while he went off on dates with Paul.  So, by necessity, Paul spends a lot of time in Andrew’s house… with Andrew’s children.
It brings a whole new element into the story, because now the focus isn’t just on the two main characters, the focus has expanded to include two more characters whose needs are fundamental in the relationship.  Scenes will involve all of them.  And the opinions, behaviour, and needs of these extra characters provide extra complexity to the storyline.
That being said, I never once shied away from putting Lilah and Germy in the story.  The joy of children much outweigh the frustration.

Excerpt, Safe in His Heart
Paul smiled at him again. He really was a cute little kid, and his resemblance to Andrew made Paul’s heart melt. He was going to be a handsome boy, like his daddy. He was dressed in wrinkled blue shorts and a matching short-sleeved jacket that had a picture of a snoring dragon on it. The blue shorts were stretched around an obviously full nappy.
“Hello,” Paul tried again. “What’s your name?”
The boy removed the finger from his mouth so he could speak. “Germy.” He popped the finger straight back in, allowing a flow of drool to trickle from the corner of his lips. Drool was nothing new to Paul.
“Germy?” he asked. The boy nodded, and Paul finally remembered his name was Jeremy. Going by the drool, perhaps Germy was a better one.
“Well, Germy. Is your daddy awake yet?” Jeremy shook his head solemnly. So Paul said, “What about your sister?” Jeremy solemnly shook his head and looked sad. Playing alone was evidently a disappointment for a two-year-old. He sighed. “All righty, then. I guess it’s only us who are up with the larks. Or is that the sparrows? I never remember. Since I have no idea what a lark looks like, I guess I’m not up with them. What do you think?”
Jeremy blinked once but didn’t answer. Paul laughed and reached out to ruffle his hair. “Sorry, buddy. A bit beyond you. I know. I’m Paul, by the way. I’m a friend of your daddy. How about you show me where the toilet is, because I need to go really badly, and then we can go and see if we can get Daddy up. Hmm?”


Safe in His Heart, by Renae Kaye.  Released 2 May 2016. eBook links Dreamspinner
Amazon
ARe
B&N
Kobo

More than just romance by Riley Hart

I'm a romance addict. There is no two ways about it. I love reading romance. I love writing romance. I love real life romantic stories. My heart turns to mush and my eyes well with tears. I believe love can change people's lives...maybe change the world. I've realized something about my writing lately though. Yes, I am a romance author but I also seem to write about family relationships a lot in my books. Whether it's relationships between parents or siblings, or children, family often plays a major role in the books I write. In some says, I guess I just enjoy writing about relationships--no matter what kind they are?

Relationships are messy. Family is messy. There are so many possibilities and different relationships to explore.

Do you enjoy books with family themes?

Ask Andrew - Characters in the Bedroom

Dear Andrew

How do you decide what type of character you'll develop.  I've heard you say that in addition to the general character traits, you also develop 'bedroom' traits.  How do you decide?

Martha

Dear Martha

Developing character is one of the most important components of writing a romance because the stories are very much character driven.  As an author, we develop all of the traits for each of the characters in our stories.  As you alluded to, my favorite part of that process is developing the bedroom character traits.  And I like there to be some surprises.  For example, the bug guy in the story, may be the bottom in the bedroom.  There's an old saying.  The bigger they are the more helium in the hells.  :)

Characters may have quirks in the bedroom.  One character may like to have his toes sucked while another will have sensitive nipples, or just the opposite.  A character may be a complete dynamo of energy in life, but in the bedroom, can be shy and much more quiet.  As long as there is a justification for the behavior so it seems believable to the reader, the sky is the limit.  And that's what makes it fun.  People are individuals so our characters must be the same and we all have things we like and don't like in and out of the bedroom.  Not everyone is a good kisser or a good lover, but think of the heat that could be generated by lessons in loving.  (Oh there's a title)

The important thing is to make characters interesting, different, fun, and feeling real.  We all have strengths and weakness, and so should the characters we create.

Hugs and Love Andrew


Ask Andrew is your chance to ask questions of a gay romance author.  The questions can be about the writing process in general, writing sex scenes, gay men, sex, characters in romance, characters having sex... okay you probably get the picture.    I promise to answer your questions as frankly and with as much humor as I possibly can.

So if you have a question, please send it to andrewgreybooks@comcast.net.  This is different from my usual email so your questions don't get lost.  I will answer one question a week.

Please remember this is meant to be all in fun.  (I was going to say good, clean fun, but who wants that.)    So send me your questions and let's see what mischief we can get into.

Visit Andrew on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/andrewgreybooks  and you can join Andrew's fan group All The Way With Andrew Grey.

Follow him on Twitter:  @andrewgreybooks

Visit Andrew's web site:  www,andrewgreybooks.com

Covers with BA, Julia, Kiernan and Sean

We were all at RT one week, then had to take the next to get back into the swing of things and to catch back up with all the little and big things there are to do. So today we thought we'd each share a cover with you. 






Got a topic you'd like us to tackle? Let us know!
You can find us on Twitter at @seanmichael09, @juliatalbot, @batortuga and @KiernanKelly
Sean’s website is http://www.seanmichaelwrites.comJulia’s is http://www.juliatalbot.comBA’s is http://www.batortuga.comKiernan's is www.KiernanKelly.com
Facebook:Sean -- https://www.facebook.com/SeanMichaelWritesJulia -- https://www.facebook.com/juliatalbotauthorBA -- https://www.facebook.com/batortugaKiernan -- https://www.facebook.com/kiernan.kelly

Seansmut fixes everythingwhere the naughty boys come... and play

Safe in His Heart, first excerpts, by Renae Kaye

My new release Safe in His Heart (Safe #2) comes out next week.  In nine days.  I’ll be exhausted by then.  I’ve been busily writing blogs and burning the midnight oil.  But that’s okay.  I will wait for the dust to settle before I emerge and see if my readers like my new book or not.

Safe #2 is about a man hiding his sexual orientation.  He entered into a marriage of convenience in order to fool his family and friends.  They had two children to complete the image, but neither of them considers fidelity to be a part of their deal.  Here, in this excerpt, Andrew explains:


Andrew tried hard to be straight. He tried to please his father. He consciously ignored his sinful urges and married a woman like the Bible told him to. He used his seed to bring children into his marriage, and that was about the best damn thing he’d already done in his life.
His children were the only good thing about his marriage to Kristy. The day he stood in front of the altar of Kristy’s church and promised to love and honor her, he lied. He felt sick at the time because he made that vow in front of God, and knew that he would break it. But the church hadn’t fallen in like he dreaded. He looked Kristy in the eye and lied, and she looked him in the eye and lied right back.


Things fall apart for Andrew though, when his wife leaves and he no longer has her as a screen to hide his “other” life that he sometimes leads.  Andrew turns to Paul for support.  But it’s dangerous.



Blurb

Andrew and Paul learned about God and Jesus in different churches and realize their views of spirituality are worlds apart.

Andrew was raised Catholic and was told his homosexuality was a sin. For his entire life, he hid the truth. He married and had children to present a façade to the world—that of a straight man. It’s not until he has an affair with Paul, who shows him a different side of Jesus, that Andrew realizes he can be gay and still believe in God. Paul’s Jesus is one of acceptance and love, and in Paul’s church, being gay is not a problem.

For Paul and Andrew, falling in love is the easy part of their journey. They must make it through the fires of cheating, being discovered, Andrew’s wife leaving, the necessities of childcare and family life, the demands of their jobs, and working on their commitment to each other. Only then can they be safe in each other’s heart.
You can pre-order Safe in His Heart here:
Dreamspinner
Amazon
ARe How to contact Renae: Email:  renaekaye@iinet.net.au Website:  www.renaekaye.weebly.com FB:  www.facebook.com/renae.kaye.9 Twitter:  @renaekkaye